BOOK of MORMON SONGS

Composed by Christian Asplund

Dr. Asplund has been fascinated with music, improvising, and creating variations on piano pieces since he was four years old. When he was a ten-year-old walking home from school, he realized he heard melodies which he had never heard before running through his head and mingling with the sound of the birds. In reflecting on this revelation Dr. Asplund said, “I realized that it seemed to be a gift.” After this experience, he started thinking about being a composer “and at a certain point I just couldn't imagine doing anything else.”

After being a School of Music faculty member for 21 years as well as doing his undergraduate studies at BYU, Dr. Asplund says that one of the most unique and exciting parts of the university is the ability to be open about his religion and religious beliefs. “My religion is such a big part of my work as an artist that it would be hard for me to keep that separated.” Dr. Asplund has made it his mission to consecrate his talents, and because of this, he started writing hymns and sacred songs in 1990 on a regular basis as part of his religious practice. He has periodically published a series of books of these songs called the Brick Church Hymnal. The Book of Mormon Songs project is Volume 5 of that series.

The Book of Mormon Songs project began for Dr. Asplund during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. He read through the Book of Mormon, found passages that were inspiring or that he felt were musical, and then he set them to music. “This Book of Mormon project was the first time I really went into actual scriptures and set text straight out of the scriptures.” Once he finished making his way through the book, he gathered the completed songs and turned them into a compilation of scores. “Some of the pieces are in four-part choral format, most of them are songs with piano accompaniment, and some are even just lead sheets.” Then January 2023, he presented some of the completed songs in a composition seminar and one of his colleagues, Steven Jones, suggested that he arrange a recital to showcase the pieces. Jones recommended asking singers and faculty in the school of music to join.

The composition premiered on March 24, 2023, featuring several faculty members, including Mark Ammons, Kevin Anthony, Rex Kocherhans, Steve Ricks, Rob Brandt, and Michael Hicks, as well as Dr. Asplund’s wife Melissa Heath, a professional soprano who is a professor at Utah Valley University. The multifaceted performance even included a dancer, Kate Monson. Dr. Asplund is hoping to do an album of the pieces they performed in the recital. “A lot of the singers have agreed to record in the studio it is in the works.”

In retrospect of the project, Dr. Asplund mentioned that he learned a lot in a direction he didn’t think he would. “I've learned to get rid of the negative voices during the initial composition process as one can’t be critical while they're doing their first draft. Otherwise it wrecks the process. You can be critical once you get to the revision process, but the composing and revision processes should be two different things.” He also reflected on the way he treated this project more as an enjoyable pursuit, versus other compositions that are commissioned for an event. “I think this particular project has helped me more in the direction of composing for the joy of it.”

By Arielle Cline

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